


Annoyances

by QueenPunk



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Cooking, Cooking Lessons, Dysfunctional Family, Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 11:30:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2190054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPunk/pseuds/QueenPunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lin stared a her little sister a few minutes.</p><p>“Su, you couldn’t cook for yourself or anyone else even if an assassin had a knife at your throat.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Annoyances

“Ugh,” Lin growled,” why must you be such a brat?”

Suyin-the little twelve year old brat that she was-poked her tongue out at her older sister in defiance. Frustrated, she snatched the appendage between her pointer finger and thumb. Then, she yanked her sister slightly to the side. Suyin glared at her hotly, slapping at her older sister’s hand and kicked at her feet trying to get away.

Losing interest, she let go and wiped the saliva off of her fingertips. Suyin backed away,” But it’s not fair! You always pick and cook what we eat!”

“Because I’m the one who actually knows how to cook,” argued Lin loftily. Her mother was useless in the kitchen and Suyin might as well have been blind if she were ever forced to read a recipe.

“I have a friend coming over!” she protested, crossing her arms in front of her chest in almost an identical pose as her sister. One that they had inherited from their mother. 

“What does that have to do with anything?” That had been the question of the night as Suyin insisted on barging her way into the kitchen-a restricted area for her ever since the fire incident-all under the defense that she had a friend coming over. How that had anything to do with the situation Lin didn’t have a clue. All she wanted to do was to get started on preparing the moose-lion stir fry noodles that she had been looking forward to eating. 

The tiny girl stomped her foot on the floor, causing a small tremor in the earth, rolling her eyes dramatically,” Because I told him that I’m a really good cook and that I was going to cook him a special meal tonight.”

“Him?” Lin cocked a brow. Twelve was way too young an age to be interested in boys, in her opinion. She had been fifteen when she had started dating. Her mother had been seventeen when she had started officially “dating”(or at least the Toph version of dating). Suyin needed to calm her little preteen hormones. 

“Yes, him.”

“Who is this him?” she hadn’t even been aware that Suyin knew any boys her age.

Suyin sighed dreamily, eyes sparkling,” His name’s Anik and he’s the cutest, smartest boy at my school. So I have to impress him!”

Lin stared a her little sister a few minutes.

“Su, you couldn’t cook for yourself or anyone else even if an assassin had a knife at your throat.”

Stubbornly the younger Bei Fong snapped,” I can cook.”

Lin smirked, sliding casually to the side,” Prove it, then.”  
Suyin huffed and marched into the kitchen, flinging open the fridge. Lin sat down at the metal table, enjoying the show. Even if they had to order in tonight, it would be so worth it to see her sister fail.

Suyin bit her lip as she saw the methodically stocked and arranged ingredients. She didn’t even know where to start, but she couldn’t falter in front of Lin. She was sure her older sister would joke about her if she were to fail. Deciding she couldn’t go wrong with noodles, she took the bowl of seaweed noodles soaking in some kind of sauce or oil. She sniffed at it. Possibly a mixture of both. After setting it down on the counter, Suyin picked up the milk and cheese. Her green eyes trailed along the shelves. Eventually, she added peppers and a package of mysterious meat slices.

Walking over to the stove, she bended a metal pot onto one of the burners, flicking the dial onto high heat because she wanted to cook this fast and get it over with. Suyin dumped the noodles in carelessly, pouring the entire contents of the milk jug into the pot. Trying to remember what her sister did after that, she scrunched up her nose. Maybe she was supposed to put the peppers in now? Her hand hovered over them. Or maybe the cheese? What was she supposed to do about the meat? Did she just plop it into the now liquid-ish mixture? 

Lin decided to show a little mercy,” Are you so stupid that you don’t even know that you have to brown the meat before you put it in anywhere? Even a novice knows that!”

Brown the meat? What the hell did that even mean? 

A pan landed on the other burner with a harsh clang. Across the room, Lin switched the fire on medium for that one and switched the high heat one down to low, instructing harshly,” Put the meat in the pan until most of the water has been cooked out.”

Suyin whipped around and snarled out,” I don’t need your help! I can do this on my own!”

“Yeah, well, you can’t just throw things in and expect it to work. There is an order to cooking things. One mistake and your whole meal can be ruined.”

“I was cooking just fine!” her little sister shouted.

“You poured milk on what was supposed to be stir fry noodles!” Lin hollered back, crossing her arms and leaning forward. Honestly, children were such a pain.

Suyin was silent for a moment,”…….you’re not supposed to do that?”

“No,” her older sister answered curtly. 

“I knew that,” the young Bei Fong huffed, crossing her own arms and pouting her lips petulantly. “ I was just trying to be creative and go with the flow. Creating a new dish isn’t about following the directions.”

“You’re such a little pain in the ass,” grumbled Lin, glaring as her sister turned back to cooking again.

Suyin placed the meat in the pan, grimacing at the strange texture on her fingertips. Blood dripped onto her hands and she nearly gagged. Maybe she should try being a vegetarian like Uncle Aang and the Air Acolytes? She spitefully stirred the milk and noodle mixture. Her mother and sister would never let her. They loved their meat dishes too much to give it up. A meal wasn’t a meal to them unless something was dead and bloody on the plate. As the meat began to cook and the decedent scent wafted into her nose, she realized that maybe it was a Bei Fong thing. At the base of things all three of them were the same. 

“Seasoned meat would be nice,” her sister commented. 

Suyin glared at the seasoning powder as she grabbed it and poured a generous amount of it into the pan full of sizzling meat. Her eyes started watering.

Lin sniffed, holding back a cough at the intense smell of pepper. She liked spice in her food, so she kept her mouth shut, even though she knew Suyin wasn’t very fond of overly spiced meals. She probably should’ve told her sister to only throw in a few dashes every now and them. 

Suyin returned to the noodles, noting the strange way the oils were mixing with the milk. Maybe cheese would help? She grabbed the block and tapped it curiously with her fingers. Maybe she should cut it? Where were the knives anyway? Suyin refused to voice these questions aloud. She started rummaged though the nearest drawer, which was filled with strange black rocks for some reason. The young girl was about to turn to another one when she caught the glimpse of metal on the counter. Suyin frowned, hesitantly picking up the knife. Had it always been there? She glanced back to see her sister studying her fingernails. Well, Lin certainly didn’t place them there.

She cut the cheese-snickered at the pun- into thin slices. Afterwards, she threw the batch into the pot. Suyin stirred it deeper into the mixture, thickening the sauce. It was starting to look halfway decent at the very least.

A knock sounded on the door, Lin stiffened, Suyin began panicking. What if Anik was here early? The meal wasn’t even prepared!

“Anybody home?” a familiar voice called out. Lin frowned, but relaxed and used her bending to open the door. Suyin breathed out a sigh of relief, her shoulders sagging.

Their Uncle Sokka strode in, a big smile on his face,” How are my two favorite girls?”

Lin shrugged, as per normal, abruptly leaving the room. Uncle Sokka looked worried as she walked out. Suyin smiled at her favorite Uncle. Whereas Lin always preferred their Uncle Aang, she loved the sillier of her Mother’s friends.

“I’m good! I’m cooking, too!” Suyin boasted excitedly.

“Really?” he looked a bit alarmed, warily leaning over to pear into the pot,” Are you sure this is a meal or a witch’s brew?”

She whacked him on the arm with her spoon, getting the sauce on his shirt, “It’s a meal that’s going to be delicious and everyone will love it.”

“I’m sure they’ll love the food poisoning,” he teased, dipping a finger into the sauce and inspected it under a scrutinizing blue gaze. Then, very casually he drew his finger down over her nose. No doubt revenge for messing up his shirt. Suyin mock glared at him, turning the heat off and waiting a few moments before sticking her entire hand into the mixture. Deliberately, she held her hand up threateningly.

Uncle Sokka held his hands up in surrender, stepping back a few steps, “You wouldn’t hit an unarmed man, now would you?”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Suyin smirked before throwing the sauce right at his face. His hands flew up to protect his face, the cream liquid splashing everywhere. Uncle Sokka lowered his arm and examined the ‘wound’. 

He licked his fingers, frowned and looked at her,” That was a means for war…”

Faster that she’d ever seen him move, Uncle Sokka had launched himself in front of the fridge and flung it open, using the door as a shield. She grasped the now cool pot then raced towards the table, flipping it over with her bending. 

For a second, they sat frozen then all hell broke loose.  
/  
Lin heard them acting like idiots downstairs, but she chose to drown them out by listening to the radio. She could only imagine what they could be doing right now. Out of curiosity, she placed a foot on the stone floor. Their heart rates were accelerated and they appeared to be racing around the kitchen-and, well, now the living room as well.

Lin lifted her foot off the floor and closed her eyes, letting the jazz music drift her away. The sounds of running feet, laughter, and things breaking echoed in the background. A sudden crash near her room.

A booming knock sounded on her door and she cracked one eye open to give it a ferocious green glare.

“C’mon Lin,” Uncle Sokka laughed, “ have some fun.”

Lin sighed and stood up. Apparently she didn’t have a choice. If they chose to be such annoyances…

The teenager bended up a second layer of wall in her room, thick enough to be soundproof. There. Now, she wouldn’t have to deal with nuisances.

But as she curled up in her bed, she remembered when she was a little girl, chasing the one man she used to consider a father around the house. Food on every available surface, smiles plastered on their faces, her mother coming home to join them. The days when these annoyances weren’t such annoyances.


End file.
